Brother charged with reckless homicide in Stevenson crash

Antonio Perez, Chicago Tribune

Police investigate a fatal crash on the Stevenson Expressway on April 29, 2015. Pedro Moreno, 25, is charged with reckless homicide and aggravated driving under the influence in the crash that killed his brother, Enrique Moreno.

Police investigate a fatal crash on the Stevenson Expressway on April 29, 2015. Pedro Moreno, 25, is charged with reckless homicide and aggravated driving under the influence in the crash that killed his brother, Enrique Moreno.

Man admits to smoking marijuana before crash on I-55, killing his brother, as they drove to work: prosecutor

A Brighton Park man was driving high on marijuana when he caused a crash that killed his brother on the Stevenson Expressway this week, prosecutors said Friday.

Pedro Moreno, 25, is charged with reckless homicide and aggravated driving under the influence in the crash about 5:35 a.m. Wednesday at the Loomis ramp on northbound Interstate 55. Killed was his brother, Enrique Moreno, 28, who lived with Pedro Moreno in the 4500 block of South Troy Street, according to prosecutors and records.

Pedro Moreno was ordered held in lieu of $100,000 bail in a hearing Friday before Cook County Judge Laura Sullivan.

Moreno, who has no valid license because it was suspended after insurance violations, was driving a 1997 Ford Expedition north on I-55 when the crash happened as he tried to exit onto I-94, assistant state’s attorney Akash Vyas said Friday.

The Expedition was traveling at high speed when the driver decided to change lanes and take the exit for northbound I-94, according to state police. A 2014 Dodge Ram was stopped near the Loomis exit, and the Ford hit the back end of the Ram, causing both vehicles to spin around and hit a concrete wall on the south side of the highway, and the Ford to hit a 2005 Honda Civic, prosecutors said.

Enrique Moreno was pinned into the Expedition, but Pedro Moreno was able to get out as an off-duty Chicago police officer and a Chicago firefighter came on the scene and tried to help before state police arrived. Enrique Moreno was taken to Mercy Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Two people were injured, with Moreno going to Stroger Hospital in serious-to-critical condition and a passenger in the Ram going to Mercy Hospital in fair condition, a Fire Department spokesman said at the time of the crash. At Stroger, a DUI kit was administered to Moreno, and his blood tested positive for THC, the psychoactive drug in marijuana, prosecutors said.

The people who were in the Ram identified Moreno as the driver of the Expedition, and he admitted to being the driver and having smoked marijuana.

Public defender Susan Smith said Moreno and his brother were on their way to work when the crash happened. Moreno lives with his wife and family in a family-owned two-flat and works five to six days a week at a factory job.

Sullivan denied Smith’s request that bail be set at $10,000 so Moreno could go to his brother’s funeral.